In a defense of a Dumb Dog. - Page 5

Hey Crys,
I have wanted to be a K9 handler since I was about 6 years old.  I have always loved dogs, especially GSD's.  I became a police officer with the goal of getting into K9. I worked the street, then became a Narcotics Detective all the time waiting for a spot in the K9 unit to open.  As soon as the spot opened I put in a letter to transfer from Narcotics to K9.  I loved working in Narcotics, but K9 was what I really wanted. I also enjoy SchH and got involved in that in '94.  I enjoy decoying and have trained and titled my dogs from pups. 

I got Boomer as a 7 week old pup.  My plan was to compete with him in SchH and when a K9 opening came around to use him as my Police dog.  He is an awesome sport dog, genetically he is a high level competition dog.  I actually donated him to my PD so I could use him as my K9.  So, he is my dog raised from a pup and my partner, but technically he is owned by the PD.  That is good because they pay for his food, vet bills and cover the liability when he bites someone.  However, if I decided to transfer out of the unit for a promotion for example, Boomer would go to the next handler.  But, I have no plans on leaving K9 and Boomer will nail anyone but me that grabs his leash.  He'll retire and stay with me.  We did a buy / bust op with our narcotics unit last night and he assisted me in apprehending one of the guys that ran. 

Jim

That is great Jim.  I didn't realize that you trained him from a  pup, KUDOS!  

How old is Boomer?  When he retires , do you have another pup lined up to train?  What is the usual age they retire a police K9?

Thanks Jim! 

The only appeal law enforcement would have to me would be K9...Seems like being a police officer could put a person in a difficult position.  On one hand, you've got to deal with the worst of humanity, and on the other, try to balance that with normal people. 

Around here, the city and county officers seem to have this..."us and them" mentality going on, where they seem to view everyone as a potential enemy.  It's quite strange, since only a few years ago, it wasn't that way.  Our state police still seem to treat everyone the same, and I have a friend with the State police who's worked for them for going on twenty years now.  He's not a K9 handler, but he shares his life with a retired import police dog, and he trains dogs in everything from obedience to protection, as a hobby. 

When I picked up Oakley from Steph, she had another GSD in the truck with her, an eight year old retired police dog trained in Czech.  I admire those dogs, and the lucky people who get to share their job with them.

Crys

RS,
Thanks.  Boomer is 3 1/2 yrs old now.  Our dogs usually work until they are around 8 years old.  It depends on the health of the dog, some go longer some shorter.  It is really a hard job for the dogs, but they love it as much as we do.  :)  I am not sure what I'll do for my next dog.  I have a 10 1/2 yr old SchH 3 female GSD at home, who is my little peanut.  My wife doesn't want another dog for a while so I'm kinda stuck.  I would love to get a puppy for sport as I don't do SchH with Boomer anymore.  I may go with a mali for my next Police dog.  I recently trained with some classified gov't dogs and they use mali's.  Very impressive to say the least. 

Crys,
 
You wrote: 
The only appeal law enforcement would have to me would be K9...Seems like being a police officer could put a person in a difficult position. On one hand, you've got to deal with the worst of humanity, and on the other, try to balance that with normal people.

Around here, the city and county officers seem to have this..."us and them" mentality going on, where they seem to view everyone as a potential enemy


In K9 you really deal with the worst of the worst and I've been in some difficult situations, especially when working narcotics.  It can seem like an "us and them" mentality on many citizens parts as well.  I deal with lots of people that don't like the police on a daily basis.  When I approach a car on a traffic stop I'm polite, but firm.  I learned this froma state trooper:  "extend the olive branch of peace and kindness to every person you meet on a traffic stop; but have a tactical plan to kill everyone in the car if you need too." 

The crime rate in my city is not as bad as some bigger inner cities, but our officers get shot at on a regular basis lately.  I've been involved in shootings and a close friend and fellow narcotics detective was shot and killed standing next to me on a search warrant.   The vast majority of citizens I meet are nice and polite but you never know who you are dealing with and what their motivations are.  You can never be too careful and you can never become complacent in my job.  That's just the way it is.

Jim

I do understand the position that law enforcement officers can find themselves in, Jim.  And though I'm not sure what city you work in, the fact of the matter is that crime here is not all that common, our town here has only 6,000 residents, and probably no more than eight thousand for the whole country, all towns included.  There's not a huge amount of crime, some drug issues, mostly it's kids in possession of alcohol or cigarettes.  There's vandalism, a few rapes and the murder rate is maybe one or two every five or ten years.  The police spend more time on traffic stops and accidents than they do most everything else. 

The State Police are the ones I'd expect to see having that attitude, but they are the most caring, engaging officers I've dealt with, which is a refreshing change.  We were witnesses to a drunk driver incident on a dark highway in the middle of a nasty snowstorm in January of 2008, wherein a drunk man borrowed another drunk's truck and ditched it in a snowbank, then proceeded to make himself a hazard to other drivers by jumping in front of them, roaring, or trying to jump onto their cars as they went by.  My husband almost hit him, then we backed up, called the police, and watched this idiot try to ram passing cars with his body.  The first officer on the scene was an ISP (Idaho State Police), who turned on the ditched truck's lights for safety, then put out flares to warn other drivers.  He told us we could go, thanked us for sitting there with our lights on, warning others of the truck sticking out into the traffic lane, and we left.  Further down the road, we encountered the driver again, still jumping in front of people, so we called ISP dispatch again, and followed the guy slowly until finally another ISP officer got there.  The fool jumped in front of his car, too.

Long story short, the guy was really drunk, ended up trying to run for it, slipped on the icy road, fell somehow on top of the officer, busted up his own face in the process, and got to go to the hospital before going to jail.  He didn't get a DUI, because there was no proof that he'd been the one driving, but he did get convicted for public intoxication, and resisting arrest.  There was no misconduct on the officer's part, although I must admire his self control while dealing with the guy, who was about as uncooperative as a person could be. 

Which brings me back to my point that that's not a job I would want.  I don't care for confrontation, though the satisfaction of a job well done would be awesome.

My point is that there's this attitude that seems to have appeared after 9-11, as if everyone is a potential terrorist.  In some cities that might be the case, but this small town?  I am not sure there's ever been an officer shot here, and there have been some who were bigger lawbreakers than those they went after. 

Still, I know people who view the police as enemies to be avoided and feared, and I laugh at them.  My oldest brother is one of the many who dislike law enforcement, something I do not understand.  As I told him, "It's just a job.  They are people too."  To me, there are enough things to worry about without worrying about every person in uniform that you see.

My condolences on the loss of your close friend...

Crys